Technology-Based Industrialization of Claims Management in Motor Insurance

Over the past years, German motor insurers have been facing growing competition from in- and outside the industry (e.g., car manufacturers, automobile clubs). Together with a growing pricing pressure on insurance premiums, their combined ratio increased from 94.5% in 2004 to 101.6% in 2008. This indicates that cost savings and process improvements in claims management have a great impact on the KPIs of insurers. While insurance companies are under pressure to decrease costs, customers lack adequate assistance when it comes to an insurance claim. Against this background, we present an analysis of today's claims management process in motor insurance and describe four technology-based process improvements. In order to realize the process improvements, a service-oriented architecture is presented and the implementation of a demonstrator illustrates our solution. Finally, we propose business value metrics to measure the effects linked with each process improvement.